Screenshots

Description

"Several astronomy-oriented weather apps are available, but Scope Nights has become my favorite… it does a fine job of summarizing the data in a clear and understandable fashion."- Sky & Telescope Magazine 2015

"Conventional weather forecasts meet the needs of Earthly dwellers; news of cloud cover when sensible folk are asleep is hardly required. Now via this wonderful App… local forecasts for nocturnal weather… are now available."- Astronomy Now Magazine 2012

If you’re a stargazer, astronomer or astrophotographer, analysing conventional weather forecasts for favourable night time conditions can be very time consuming, you just want to know when to plan your stargazing trip or set up your telescope. Scope Nights analyses night time weather forecast data for you and shows exactly when and where to go for the darkest and clearest skies, as well as offering customisable stargazing ratings to suit your telescope and observing habits, stargazing notifications, and a detailed light pollution map showing nearby dark sky sites and observatories. Finding clear dark skies and discovering the night sky has never been easier!

PLAN YOUR OBSERVING WITH CUSTOM STARGAZING RATINGS

• View at a glance which nights will be good for astronomy using smart weather analysis with clear stargazing ratings and animated weather icons to quickly see if it’s worth preparing your telescope or planning a stargazing trip

• Create custom stargazing ratings using observing thresholds for moon phase, wind, humidity and temperature. Choose night, evening or morning coverage to suit when you observe, the type of telescope, and the type of observing you plan to do.

• View at a glance which of your favourite Scope Sites will have the most suitable conditions

• Wind speed gust sensitivity switch for those with large telescopes or in exposed locations

REQUIREMENTS• Requires a device with iOS 9.3 or later • Requires Internet access over a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection• Requires Location Services be enabled to automatically find local astronomy forecast• Requires Background Services be enabled to get stargazing notifications

What’s New

Version History

2.5.1

2.5

Oct 10, 2017

Scope Nights 2.5 is a free update which includes iOS11 compatibility, support for older iOS9 devices, new features, performance improvements and bug fixes.

NEW - iOS11 compatibility allowing Scope Nights to work on the latest devices.NEW - Backwards compatibility with older devices running iOS 9.3, allowing more people to freely upgrade to the latest Scope Nights.NEW - Improved Moon phase forecasts including percentage, rise, set and altitude.NEW - Long-press gesture on the Dark Sky Map to add new Scope Sites, allowing you to get stargazing forecasts for any location.NEW - Improved easier to read layouts for summary and detail forecasts.FIX - Performance improvements and bug fixes.

If you find this latest free update of Scope Nights useful, please take a moment to leave a new App Store rating or update your previous rating. I don’t get paid for app updates, so your review encourages others to buy Scope Nights which enables me to keep developing the app.

Clear Skies!Martin

2.4

Dec 21, 2016

Scope Nights 2.4 is a free update with iOS10 support, new features, performance improvements and bug fixes. I have taken on board your feedback and removed the upgrades. All features are now accessible with the initial purchase of the app.

NEW - More stargazing forecasts… You can now save & compare up to 10 sites.

NEW - Scope Nights now uses background fetching of weather forecast data giving more accurate and up to date stargazing notifications.

NEW - App Badge showing the number of sites with good stargazing for the upcoming night.

2.3

NEW - I have taken on board your feedback and reduced the number of upgrades. Astronomer’s Weather Pack and UK & US Astronomy Weather are now included with the app. This includes… ● Accurate and detailed local 3-hourly stargazing forecasts from NOAA in the US and Met Office in the UK. ● 10-night global forecasts ● Custom stargazing ratings with observing thresholds ● Stargazing notifications ● Sharing of stargazing forecasts

NEW - More stargazing forecasts… You can now save & compare up to 5 sites, and up to 10 sites with the Dark Sky Locations upgrade.

NEW - Scope Nights now uses background fetching of weather forecast data giving more accurate and up to date stargazing notifications.

NEW - App Badge showing the number of sites with good stargazing for the upcoming night.

If you find Scope Nights useful, please leave a good rating in the App Store as it helps me to keep developing the app.

Clear Skies,Martin

2.2

Sep 16, 2015

For those updating from version 2.1 Scope Nights 2.2 is a free update which includes iOS9 & 64-bit support, updated dark sky sites, bug fixes and improvements. Here’s a list of the changes...

• NEW - Full iOS9 compatibilityThe iOS9 operating system causes Scope Nights 2.1 to crash on startup, so Scope Nights 2.2 has been refactored to work with iOS9.

• NEW - 64-bit supportMuch of the code has been refactored to make Scope Nights a 64-bit app, resulting in performance improvements for 64-bit devices.

• NEW - Dark Sky SitesThe Dark Sky Locations Upgrade includes a new list of IDA dark sky places and new map marker filters for observatories and dark sky sites.

• FIX - General bug fixes & improvementsMinor bug fixes and improvements have also been made to improve functionality and usability.

If you enjoy using Scope Nights and find it useful, please recommend this version of Scope Nights to others by giving a good rating in the App Store, as it helps to ensure Scope Nights is developed further and keeps getting better!

Thanks for your support, Martin

2.1

Dec 12, 2014

Scope Nights 2.1 includes new feature requests and bug fixes, plus a high resolution light pollution map designed to help you find local dark sky sites with the best stargazing forecasts. Here’s a list of the changes...

• NEW - iOS8 and iPhone 6 compatibility

• NEW - Stargazing Forecasts For Multiple Scope Sites

With Scope Nights 2.1 you can now get stargazing forecasts for multiple locations or "Scope Sites" as this was the most requested new feature. To change locations you'll need to edit your Scope Sites. You can do this in the Scope Sites page, where you can add, delete or re-order your Scope Sites.

In the Scope Nights page the first location is always your current location and the other stargazing forecasts will be your Scope Sites, and you can swipe the forecasts to move between each site.

The basic version of Scope Nights now gives you stargazing forecasts for your current location plus any other Scope Site, and with the Dark Sky Locations upgrade you can view and compare stargazing forecasts for up to five Scope Sites.

• NEW - Dark Sky Locations Upgrade

This new upgrade lets you add more Scope Sites and there’s a new screen showing the best Scope Sites for each night, along with a dark sky map to help people get away from something just as bad as cloudy skies… light pollution!

• NEW - Night, Evening or Morning Coverage

This is another requested feature that I’ve added to the Astronomer’s Weather Settings. Not everyone can spend all night stargazing so this new setting enables the coverage to be changed to All Night, Evening or Morning. This should give you more relevant nightly summary ratings.

• FIX - Fixed & Improved Astronomy Forecasts

I’ve fixed the global astronomy forecasts to cope with the changes by the weather service provider, and also improved the way in which forecasts are displayed in the app. Each forecast now has a flag to show the source of the weather data. This is useful for those who have applied a national astronomy weather upgrade, so you can see if the forecast is national or global.

• FIX - Bug Fixes & Improvements

Much of the code behind the scenes as been refactored to cope with iOS8. I’ve also ironed out a few bugs so you’ll hopefully find the app easier to use and have added a link to the online help & support to make it easier to find help articles.

If you enjoy Scope Nights 2.1 please take a moment to rate and review in the App Store as it really helps me to keep developing the app.

Please Note, if updating from a previous version… In order to fund further development some existing features are now included as part of paid upgrades, but they also include many new features as listed above within the free update to version 2.0. Without adding a small charge for the more advanced features I could not afford to develop the app any further.

1.0

Ratings and Reviews

4.7 out of 5

265 Ratings

265 Ratings

Blamy
,11/16/2017

Scope nights app

Used this app now for two years and is very accurate! Once it said poor and the sky was clear so I set up my scope and by the time of sunset I was completely clouded in! When it says good it’s clear and when it says poor it’s cloudy! Can’t ask better than that. I highly recommend it.

Blamy
,11/16/2017

Scope nights app

Used this app now for two years and is very accurate! Once it said poor and the sky was clear so I set up my scope and by the time of sunset I was completely clouded in! When it says good it’s clear and when it says poor it’s cloudy! Can’t ask better than that. I highly recommend it.

Tomrobbe
,05/26/2017

Great app

I have had this app for a few years and seen it improve gradually to the point that I find myself using it regularly along with myCSC to plan my observing sessions. I really like how easy it is to get observing forecasts for different locations with important details and a much longer forecast than one gets with myCSC.

Tomrobbe
,05/26/2017

Great app

I have had this app for a few years and seen it improve gradually to the point that I find myself using it regularly along with myCSC to plan my observing sessions. I really like how easy it is to get observing forecasts for different locations with important details and a much longer forecast than one gets with myCSC.

The Higgs
,11/19/2018

Seems reliable and quite useful

I find this app to be useful for a first look at the possibility for decent skies. Your mileage may vary. If you’re a stargazer like me, you know that the weather does whatever it feels like to us poor mortals. But definitely a good thing to have in your toolkit.

The Higgs
,11/19/2018

Seems reliable and quite useful

I find this app to be useful for a first look at the possibility for decent skies. Your mileage may vary. If you’re a stargazer like me, you know that the weather does whatever it feels like to us poor mortals. But definitely a good thing to have in your toolkit.